Great efforts have during a long period of time been devoted to research and development for the purpose of avoiding casting and subsequent machining in the manufacturing of i.a. superalloys, high speed steel, high alloyed tool steels, and other alloys which, because of their micro structures and tendencies to segregation, are difficult to cast and/or difficult to machine. One can see two principle lines in the course of this development, which both are based upon a powder metallurgical technique, namely on one hand powder compacting in the solid phase, e.g. hot isostatic pressing (HIP) and on the other hand consolidation of powder in the two-phase region, liquid phase/solid phase, often to finished shape.